FanPost

There can be only one!

Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports


There is a different strategy require for different circumstances. The exact balance of BPA and need is the dynamic that drives most discussion. I am a BPA guy but when I say that I mean the BPA on the board of the drafting team. That board places players in order, I am confident, based on player quality and to some extent at least position of need. Currently we look at depth and players who may not contribute this year but will pay dividends down the road. This leads to a pretty sophisticated formula taking into account a plethora of criteria about the entire present and future of the team. That is as it should be. We have discussed all of the permutations and will continue to do so until the process is over.

On this post I want to explore another dynamic. In this discussion I want to ignore the future and pay attention strictly to winning now without looking any further down the road. What can we do to win now - right now. So, I am asking the question, what single player would contribute most to making this team the most capable of winning immediately. In order to do this lets set a few conditions.

Assume we can draft only one player. That player is to be a guy who has a reasonable possibility, over 50% or so of falling to us at #24. That player should not be a QB. Like it or not AD is our QB for at least one more year so, in order to prevent another of the tedious AD is great/horrible arguments I would like to exclude them. This means that this guy needs to replace one of the players designated as starters who aren't adequate and upgrade that position in the most impactful way possible. We will also assume for the sake of discussion in this post that injured players like Geno, Hall, Boling and Lamur come back and play. Hell of an assumption but I haven't heard of anyone not being on schedule.

Now here is my take and reasoning. Lets start with the Defense. On the DL I think we have proven adequate starters with Gilberry and Hunt replacing I would say 90% of MJ. In the LB and S corps our I think we are solid and in the CB are our CBs though in need of depth seem solid at the starter level.

On Offense AD is there, as I said and will be. The starting OL is solid as well with the only question being C and Pollock or Robinson will be at least as good as Cook and there are no Cs that I think can come in right now and contribute greatly. The WRs are coming into their own with increased talent and I am not sure there is one that could fall to 24 who wouldn't take the customary year or two to become effective over our starting three WRs and two TEs.

That brings us to RB. Gio is a potential superstar in the making. I can't see anyone who could displace him. Then there is Ellis. I like the guy. He is a sure handed short yardage back, but IMO he is the weak link on the offense. He just cannot get it done at the 2nd level and is not at all a receiving back. With the need to make the D respect our running game and the emphasis on the running aspect of our O not just for the sake of yards on the ground but to bring the DBacks up and freeing AD and the receivers to do a better job I think we need to replace Ellis with Carlos Hyde. He is a big back who can bang the line as well as make hay in the secondary and catch the ball out of the backfield. He will help everyone else on the O and do more to help us win now than any other single player. My guy is Carlos Hyde. Who is yours and why?

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan, which is as important as the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors.